June 2021

The Second Amendment

The Second Amendment is quite simple, yet it seems to be the most controversial of all the Amendments.

One only has to remember that the Founders were creating a nation governed by the people. Their only real concerns regarding tyranny revolved around defending the nation from the British to the north and the Spanish to the south, and from giving too much power to a president who might try to become king.

Alexander Hamilton wrote that a well-regulated militia is “the most natural defense of a free country.” The second amendment makes it clear that the federal government may not interfere with the citizens’ right to own firearms. The State Militia is a body of citizens which can be called up by the governor or Congress to protect the people from harm. The right to self-defense is a natural, unalienable right. Owning a firearm for self-defense was a longstanding right among the colonies before the Constitution was written. This amendment ensures the right to own firearms for personal protection, self-defense, and in service of the militia.

The Second Amendment reads as follows:

A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.